Wimbledon 2017: Garbine Muguruza topples top seed Angelique Kerber

The German, bidding to reach a first Grand Slam quarter-final of 2017, was broken in the final game as she went down 4-6 6-4 6-4 to the 2015 finalist. It was the ninth consecutive time Kerber had failed to beat a top-20 opponent

It means the 29-year-old’s run atop the WTA rankings is over, with either Simona Halep or Karolina Pliskova set to take over.

When I came here, I was telling myself, I was practising good after Paris. For me, I'm still looking forward to the next months, next weeks. I think I'm again on a good way to playing again a high level of tennis," she said.

"I think it's just step by step. I think all the matches I played, starting in Eastbourne, where I had good matches, but also matches (here) that I turned around, close matches that I won, and also this match where I really played good tennis, as well, and everything came together," she said.

Now her thoughts will turn to defending her title at Flushing Meadows.

"I will go home and I will take few days off, then I'm looking forward to going to the U.S," she added.

"I think I will go there also with a good motivation, good positive emotion. For me, it was really important that I played the grass season well.

"I know that I'm back, I can play good matches. This is what counts for me at the end."

Muguruza is being widely tipped to win the title, with Svetlana Kuznetsova awaiting the 2016 French Open champion in the last eight.